Fear
by verynahcewritings
Summary: Oneshot. Something terrible happens,and Katara acts out in fear, striking out at Aang. Kind of Angsty, but worth reading. summary sucks, the story is much better. Characters are older.


"Tell me why," He implored, the distance between the two of us eating away at my already aching heart. His eyes refused to meet my own, his body was turned away from mine, his back providing a solid wall of protection; a curtain hiding the hurt I knew would be splayed across his face. I couldn't speak, my lips were frozen shut; shame and guilt boiled and bubbled within me, making me feel sick to my stomach.

"Tell me, Katara," the words pushed past his lips with more force this time, his emotions getting the best of him, the muscles in his hands tightening as he clenched his fists while I continued to be at a loss for words. Tears began rolling down my cheeks, I could taste the salty bitterness on my lips, the taste of my tears reflecting the still, silent, dense air in the room.

A loud sigh came from across the room, he lifted his head and looked out the window, a brief flash of lightening outlining his features; tears of his own pooling in his eyes. I took a step towards him, my hands held out in front of me, my only desire being to comfort him, to rid his face of that heart-wrenching expression. He put his left hand up quickly, stopping me in my tracks. "Don't," the ferocity in his words nearly bringing me to my knees.

He turned around and sat down on the window sill, his head in his hands; not a single word was spoken between the two of us. The sound of rain pounded on the roof, the windows, the walls of the house. Wind howled, the demons of the night wailing, whining, screeching, growing louder with every clap of thunder. The silence in the room was all-consuming.

"You're not making any sense," he whispered, his voice wavering; a tear drop rolled down his cheek and onto his knee. It took an enormous amount of strength on my end to not throw myself at his broken form. I had to do this, I had to be strong, stick to my resolve; this was for the better. We couldn't be together, it was too dangerous.

My only option now was escape; if I stayed here any longer with him, the pull his body had on mine would win over, and I would lose. I began walking backwards, wiping my eyes clear. He stood up suddenly, crossing the room in a split second, capturing my wrists with his hands and pushing himself against me; a muted thump resonating throughout the room as my back hit the far wall. "Don't leave," he pleaded.

He was looking me right in the eyes, gray peering into blue; outside of our bedroom window, waves crashed against the rocky shores of the beach driven by the fierce winds of the storm. His gaze was so intense that I had to look away, afraid of what he would find; I knew that it was pointless, no doubt he had already seen enough.

His hand released my wrist and brushed against my cheek bone, his forehead met my own, "You can't do it," his words spoke of the weakness that shone through my eyes, "you like to think that you can, but you would never be able to." He was right of course, but I was going to fight it anyway, make him hurt more; make him love me less.

I pushed him roughly off of me, yanking my arm away from him, "You're wrong; I don't want this anymore;" the lie couldn't have been any more obvious. I began backing towards the door again, this time with more speed. His hand caught mine, pulling me towards him; his face was expressionless.

"Let go of me, Aang!" He held my arm tighter, pulled me closer; I struggled half-heartedly.

"Stop it," he said, reaching around me and grabbing my other arm.

"Let go! I want to leave, damnit!" I yelled as loud as my voice would allow, making more of an effort to break free of his grasp.

"Katara, Stop this," he spoke with more authority, crossing my arms, using them against me, pulling my back into his chest and wrapping his arms tightly around me. I pushed and pulled, elbowed, kicked, screamed, and knocked the both of us to the ground when I somehow managed to turn myself around in his arms. His hand prevented my head from colliding with the floor; I continued to squirm, while he remained stoic above me. My throat tightened as my body began to acknowledge his body weight, his warmth, against my own, the way it felt to be trapped beneath him, smothered in his presence. My will crumbled, my resolve vanished, the mission terminated; I let the tears fall freely.

He pulled me into him and sat the both of us up, bringing my body into his lap, cradling me into his chest, burying his own face in my hair. The storm outside beginning to die down, the sound of the waves dying along with it; the wind had stopped screaming.

His body swayed from side to side, keeping in time with the sound of his breathing. "Don't do that to me again. It's stupid and selfish," he said, his arms tightening around me.

"It's more dangerous for us being together, Aang," I whispered, my lips moving against the skin of his neck. He shook his head at my words, his body going still; my words connecting the dots in his mind, all of what I had said to him earlier suddenly making sense.

"We are not Mai and Zuko, Katara," his voice cracking as he spoke. Tears escaped from both of our lids as I absorbed his words. We were not Mai and Zuko; I was not dead, Mai was.

"It could happen to us all the same, we are just as vulnerable."

"Why, Katara?"

"Because I love you," I spoke without hesitation, reinforcing my words with a kiss to his jaw, "and I can't change that, I can't hide it." He was silent for a moment, running his fingers through my hair, his body began to sway once more.

"It's because of that, Katara, my love, that it is far more dangerous for us to be apart," his lips brushing against my ear as he spoke.

"I don't understand," I whispered into his skin, my eyebrows furrowing.

"We need each other, we are a team, a puzzle, if one of us is missing, the puzzle will forever be incomplete. If you left, I would seek you out; my focus would be given entirely to you, there would be no changing that, no hiding it; in turn, others would seek you out. You would be harmed. It would be the same in your case, you stubborn girl; you would search for me if I left you, and I would be hurt; we would both lose." I shook my head, not wanting to believe his words, regardless of my knowing how much sense they made.

"Don't you dare disagree with me," he said, a small chuckle shaking his frame. My hands tensed in his robes.

"I'm so scared, Aang." I whispered, pleading with him.

"I know, I'm scared, too," he said, placing a kiss on my temple, "I wish I could tell you there wasn't any cause for it." We let silence take over again, let our minds absorb all that had occurred.

I sat up, looking him in the eyes, the darkness that had been in them before had faded, "So what are we supposed to do?" He smiled at my question, the tip of his nose touching mine.

"We keep loving each other; we let the world see it, show them that we can handle whatever it is they want to throw at us; we honor Mai," he said. My lips brushed against his, we held each other's faces; what was most dear to us in the palms of our hands. The sky outside had cleared up, the ocean had stilled, the water lapping at the shore, the stars danced all along its surface. His words had ripped the fear out of my body.


End file.
